Page 10 of 14 FirstFirst 1234567891011121314 LastLast
Results 181 to 200 of 263

Thread: Letter from the Game Director - My last update

  1. #181

    Unhappy

    And here I was wondering if I should maby come back to the game and take a look around to see if there's any progress..
    How dumb of me to hope for such a thing as progress in FC's bottom shelf game..
    AO is the most expensive mmorpg there is to play, you'd think that'd go hand in hand with maintenance updates and stability, but how ignorant to expect such a thing.
    It's merely a cash flow generator for all the other faliures they put so much effort in producing..
    I'd love to see a graph over the ammount of players leaving the game these last 3 years..
    A game that I've always loved, and been laughed at because of.
    But it has something that most others seem to miss.
    There's been so much hope and love thrown at this game, and I do not for a second doubt that the AO team hasn't feelt that and tried to reflect it, tho that's simply not enough, promises of progress over and over again where there is none, because of the FC management/priority for the game, because I'm quite sure that's exactly where the problem lies.
    So to make the game procced forwards then it should be the AO teams duty to make the FC management see the need and MAKE them prioritize instead of seeing any small step as throwing the customer base a "partly eaten bone" to shut them up for a bit and squeeze whatever profit they can to sustain progress elsewere..

    I do hope that someone will make Fun Com see their fault and give this game the priority it really deserves, so that the game can move forwards and that I'll one day be happy to activate and play the game I love once again.
    But right now I just feel dumb when I catch myself slipping into these forums to find a glimpse of light and sigh when see the grey icon that states "Anarchy online launcher" sitting there lonely on my desktop.
    Last edited by Phoenixdoc; Sep 23rd, 2012 at 13:54:58.
    Welcome to the Internet. Where boys are boys,
    boys are men, and 14 year old girls are the FBI

  2. #182

    Funcom employee

    Quote Originally Posted by Keldros View Post
    So what you're saying is, even with the NPE and new engine, you still don't expect enough customers to maintain the current servers?
    As it has been stated many times on these forums, the major reason for the server migration is purely technical. That more people will be playing together is a fortunate benefit. RK1 and RK2 have been running for so long that from a software and data resource standpoint we need to basically copy all the data over and start fresh. If we did not do a migration, sooner or later things would start breaking down. This is one of those issues you want to address before it becomes a problem. Plus, being on new hardware and a fresh server (with copied data) will benefit all players.
    Last edited by Ilaliya; Sep 23rd, 2012 at 16:02:51.

  3. #183
    Quote Originally Posted by Ilaliya View Post
    As it has been stated many times on these forums, the major reason for the server migration is purely technical. That more people will be playing together is a fortunate benefit. RK1 and RK2 have been running for so long that from a software and data resource standpoint we need to basically copy all the data over and start fresh. If we did not do a migration, sooner or later things would start breaking down. This is one of those issues you want to address before it becomes a problem. Plus, being on new hardware and a fresh server (with copied data) will benefit all players.
    Wouldn't it be smoother to just enable server xfer and let ppl choose what server to go to? Then after a few months we'll likely see one server "win". There is plenty of room on each server tbh. If you need to migrate for a technical reason then that's fine and can be done later. But let us join now through a server xfer just like you did with rk3.

    We want to continue playing but not as it stands now with so very few online. Also there is imo no reason to bog down any reasources into removing player cities. There are plenty of "real" ones available on either server and there is always instanced ones. So use that money elsewhere please.

  4. #184
    I understand your decision very well, but I cant help but feel very uncertain about the future of AO.

    I hope there is people left in the "engine room" continuing work with the update that we all are waiting for, and have been for several years now..

    Imo. the gfx update is the only way to get more players in the door than out the door.

  5. #185
    Quote Originally Posted by Noobius76 View Post
    If you need to migrate for a technical reason then that's fine and can be done later.
    Well I think he explained clearly they want to avoid the potential problems which may come up "later" and you want it to be done... "later".... I don't want to lose any of my toons or items on them due to a glitch because people are against a merge which benefits most of us.

    Quote Originally Posted by Noobius76 View Post
    We want to continue playing but not as it stands now with so very few online.
    The merge will increase the number of players interacting with each other for sure. I've been talking to peeps from Rimor and they are excited about meeting and playing with Atlanteans.

    Quote Originally Posted by Noobius76 View Post
    Also there is imo no reason to bog down any reasources into removing player cities. There are plenty of "real" ones available on either server and there is always instanced ones. So use that money elsewhere please.
    They are not removing them, they are being disabled. As far as I've read, there will be different sized instance cities to choose from. Among the "plenty" you mention, there is the "German ghetto" which is 3 Craters East/West which obviously was made in a hurry, it's not a real playfield. This gives them the opportunity to use a PF which already exists for quests and new content, same with Coast of Peace/Tranquility (which were much better designed).

    They've already done work into to, by walking away the work they put into it would go to waste. Let them finish everything related to the merge (the change with the cities is part of it) and get it done asap.
    Twitch Channel - Youtube Channel - Twitter - Facebook - Pinterest
    AO Universe - By Players, For Players! The #1 AO Fansite Worldwide - Site Founder (Retired). | AOSpeak - Unofficial AO Teamspeak 3 Server - Founder (Retired). | AO Recipebook - In-Game Recipe/Tradeskill Bot - Founder (Retired).
    Founding member of the Council of Truth Clerical Staff.
    Keep in mind: My posts are my own personal views and thoughts.

  6. #186
    Quote Originally Posted by Windguaerd View Post
    Well I think he explained clearly they want to avoid the potential problems which may come up "later" and you want it to be done... "later".... I don't want to lose any of my toons or items on them due to a glitch because people are against a merge which benefits most of us.
    We all know already that anything on that little list is ALREADY "later". I am talking about what needs to be done in the short term* because we really are running on fumes here.


    Quote Originally Posted by Windguaerd View Post
    The merge will increase the number of players interacting with each other for sure. I've been talking to peeps from Rimor and they are excited about meeting and playing with Atlanteans.
    If it happens 9 months from now I just don't believe there will be much left to merge. Why not do it now, the proven way that's already been done?


    Quote Originally Posted by Windguaerd View Post
    They are not removing them, they are being disabled. As far as I've read, there will be different sized instance cities to choose from. Among the "plenty" you mention, there is the "German ghetto" which is 3 Craters East/West which obviously was made in a hurry, it's not a real playfield. This gives them the opportunity to use a PF which already exists for quests and new content, same with Coast of Peace/Tranquility (which were much better designed).
    And which hat are they going to pull a new PF design out of? Let's do the most of what we have already in the simplest fashion possible to keep our noses above water! And if that works out, start thinking about bigger additions.

    Quote Originally Posted by Windguaerd View Post
    They've already done work into to, by walking away the work they put into it would go to waste. Let them finish everything related to the merge (the change with the cities is part of it) and get it done asap.
    What's the latest guess on the eta of that and why should we believe it more than any of the other guesstimates that was not met?

    *within 1-2 months
    Last edited by Noobius76; Sep 23rd, 2012 at 21:02:43.

  7. #187
    Hopefully Funcom will release the intellectual property and the source code of Anarchy Online to the community if they need to throw in the towel.

    Imagine having an open source "board" of people with sub divisions that have different tasks like creating new in game items or graphics, new physics etc. Could improve over time. i.e. gen 1 physics and then a year later it is upgraded to gen 2 physics while the graphics engine is independent of that and releases new graphic updates on a similar interval, gen 1 AI engine, gets upgraded once a year and so on.

    Modular component based development where all parts of a game are interchangeable and dynamic, what component kicks in is computer dependent, what that computer is able to handle. The speed-tree module is a good example where a company/library is solely responsible for the generation of trees http://www.speedtree.com/ .

    I really think the community could contribute a lot, I understand if it still generates money though and the company is still alive.

    Also VR will be a big part of future MMOs.
    http://oculusvr.com/

  8. #188
    Quote Originally Posted by Ilaliya View Post
    As it has been stated many times on these forums, the major reason for the server migration is purely technical.
    IIRC it hasn't been that long since the Dimensions were moved to new servers.
    Quote Originally Posted by Esssch View Post
    I think you're wrong. I think AO is the most balanced MOBA out there.

  9. #189
    Quote Originally Posted by superfluid View Post
    Hopefully Funcom will release the intellectual property and the source code of Anarchy Online to the community if they need to throw in the towel.

    Imagine having an open source "board" of people with sub divisions that have different tasks like creating new in game items or graphics, new physics etc. Could improve over time. i.e. gen 1 physics and then a year later it is upgraded to gen 2 physics while the graphics engine is independent of that and releases new graphic updates on a similar interval, gen 1 AI engine, gets upgraded once a year and so on.

    Modular component based development where all parts of a game are interchangeable and dynamic, what component kicks in is computer dependent, what that computer is able to handle. The speed-tree module is a good example where a company/library is solely responsible for the generation of trees http://www.speedtree.com/ .

    I really think the community could contribute a lot, I understand if it still generates money though and the company is still alive.

    Also VR will be a big part of future MMOs.
    http://oculusvr.com/
    As exactly the kind of person who could have helped with this - i consequently had the same idea and asked one of AO's programmers if they would ever be able to outsource code.

    Answer: a resounding "No" as you'd expect. AO's source is part of FC's codebase, their tools and techniques would still be theirs even if AO collapsed. They'd use them to do something else.

    I even suggested the very same VR project you have here (I can't wait till my Devkit for it arrives, yeee!) because what coders AO has will always be dedicated to the "must win" things like engine, server stability and solid gameplay mechanics.
    Making AO the first Oculus-ready MMO would have been a fantastically fun challenge, but... c'est la vie.

  10. #190

    Funcom employee

    Quote Originally Posted by superfluid View Post
    Hopefully Funcom will release the intellectual property and the source code of Anarchy Online to the community if they need to throw in the towel.
    Look guys, Fia was planning to go back to Sweden sometime after Christmas 2012/early 2013 (we didn't set a specific date because it would depend on the state of the planned features). Due to various circumstances, it made sense for her to leave a few months earlier than we had initially planned.

    This does not mean the apocalypse is coming. We're not throwing in the towel. One person leaving slightly sooner than expected only means that we're sad to see them go now as opposed to in a few months from now. Every live MMO has people coming and going, because that's the nature of working in the MMO industry. And to be perfectly honest, the team in general has worked on AO far longer than the norm... people leaving when they are ready to move on is just more noticeable on AO, because the developers are really involved with the community. And this is a great thing. Just keep things in perspective

  11. #191
    Confirmed:
    Quote Originally Posted by Ilaliya View Post
    the apocalypse is coming


  12. #192
    Quote Originally Posted by Ilaliya View Post
    Look guys, Fia was planning to go back to Sweden sometime after Christmas 2012/early 2013 (we didn't set a specific date because it would depend on the state of the planned features). Due to various circumstances, it made sense for her to leave a few months earlier than we had initially planned.

    This does not mean the apocalypse is coming. We're not throwing in the towel. One person leaving slightly sooner than expected only means that we're sad to see them go now as opposed to in a few months from now. Every live MMO has people coming and going, because that's the nature of working in the MMO industry. And to be perfectly honest, the team in general has worked on AO far longer than the norm... people leaving when they are ready to move on is just more noticeable on AO, because the developers are really involved with the community. And this is a great thing. Just keep things in perspective
    Okay lets keep things in perspective. Lets try to keep in a players perspective. AO has seen many GD come and go, a lot has been changed and all they changed was well meant but not everything was so great for the game. For the first time we got, for paying the biggest subscription fee in the industry, a GD that really tried to fix problems where they happen, very deep in the system, instead of using duct tape and glue to cover the problems. And now we see that person leave. Not the things that where fixed in the past few month where so impressive (to me at least) but much more how they where fixed and what foundation has been built for upcoming changes.
    Somewhere i read that AO is still cash-flow positive as well as TSW is now. With froobs and some people still being on the 5$ shadowland subscription you offered for a while. But still if you want to "enjoy" the whole game you have to pay the biggest fee in the industry. And while Free-to-play titles avoid that items are needed to win (known as pay-to-win) AO is already there because you need all the expansions and then you need an active subscription.
    You are asking why everybody is in apocalyptic mood? I am asking why you are not! I am aware that you get paid to be calming down the upset community, paid by the biggest subscription fee in the industry, that they are paying a lot of money for little to no reward. My subscription is canceled. AO is now a ghost town, with funny memories about good friends that left long time ago. I hope you can estimate now why everybody is in an apocalyptic mood.
    This all made me cancel my subscription because i no longer wanted to support such a company that is riding on their customers like on donkeys luring them to move with some fancy carrot on a stick. Lindelu was the only reason to check back this forums, again not because what she changed, but because how she changed stuff. Now that she is gone there is no more reason to look back. (and please do not tell me that the AO staff are so many more people and Lindelus leaving will have no impact on the agenda to change some things in the game and how things will be changed, its simply not realistic, as much as it was not realistic that we got told that the companywide savings at Funcom greatly reduced the AO staff too but you will be releasing everything as intented at the aimed time.)

    Farewell Kintaii!
    Farewell Lindelu!
    Farewell AO!
    it was great while it lasted.

    P.S.: Did i mention that AO has the biggest subscription fee in the industry?

  13. #193
    I'm pretty sure that most of the things implemented during Lindelu's time have been planned and worked on for quite a long time. But then it's always been the case that people are awarded for other people's work
    Thor Mastablasta Hammersmith - Level 220, AI 30, LE 70 Clan Atrox Nano Technician - Setup
    The Red Brotherhood

    I'm a Nano-Technician, don't ever expect me to fight unbuffed, alone or fair.

    Means: about f'ing time :P
    Satenia: heresy <3
    Znore: Mastablasta <3
    Kinkstaah: I have agro from many mobs ;(
    Madarab: we are aoe class, we are supose to use pistols
    Marxgorm: the NT toolset does not fit into my raiding tactics

  14. #194
    Quote Originally Posted by Ilaliya View Post
    As it has been stated many times on these forums, the major reason for the server migration is purely technical. That more people will be playing together is a fortunate benefit. RK1 and RK2 have been running for so long that from a software and data resource standpoint we need to basically copy all the data over and start fresh. If we did not do a migration, sooner or later things would start breaking down. This is one of those issues you want to address before it becomes a problem. Plus, being on new hardware and a fresh server (with copied data) will benefit all players.
    So migration will bring nice features and more stability for players? Can less lag and somewhat faster development cycle be expected? If so I believe it's worth the trade.
    Ekarona 220/30 Female Solitus Engineer, long term member of Northern Star and proper "poor" gimp.
    Ekaslave 220/low Female Solitus Trader, FLAT(TM) pricing TS, almost all can do!
    Ekaros almost there/almost there too Male Solitus Martial-Artist.
    Ekadv gimp/gimp Female Opifex Adventurer

  15. #195
    Why could we expect a shorter development cycle because of different servers?

    Most speed impacts would come from the change to inventory handling...
    Thor Mastablasta Hammersmith - Level 220, AI 30, LE 70 Clan Atrox Nano Technician - Setup
    The Red Brotherhood

    I'm a Nano-Technician, don't ever expect me to fight unbuffed, alone or fair.

    Means: about f'ing time :P
    Satenia: heresy <3
    Znore: Mastablasta <3
    Kinkstaah: I have agro from many mobs ;(
    Madarab: we are aoe class, we are supose to use pistols
    Marxgorm: the NT toolset does not fit into my raiding tactics

  16. #196
    Quote Originally Posted by Mastablasta View Post
    Why could we expect a shorter development cycle because of different servers?

    Most speed impacts would come from the change to inventory handling...
    blob
    Ekarona 220/30 Female Solitus Engineer, long term member of Northern Star and proper "poor" gimp.
    Ekaslave 220/low Female Solitus Trader, FLAT(TM) pricing TS, almost all can do!
    Ekaros almost there/almost there too Male Solitus Martial-Artist.
    Ekadv gimp/gimp Female Opifex Adventurer

  17. #197
    Quote Originally Posted by Ekarona View Post
    blob
    Yea, but they said that was in the works right now, doesn't seem to be a new server thing.
    Thor Mastablasta Hammersmith - Level 220, AI 30, LE 70 Clan Atrox Nano Technician - Setup
    The Red Brotherhood

    I'm a Nano-Technician, don't ever expect me to fight unbuffed, alone or fair.

    Means: about f'ing time :P
    Satenia: heresy <3
    Znore: Mastablasta <3
    Kinkstaah: I have agro from many mobs ;(
    Madarab: we are aoe class, we are supose to use pistols
    Marxgorm: the NT toolset does not fit into my raiding tactics

  18. #198

    Funcom employee

    Quote Originally Posted by Mastablasta View Post
    Yea, but they said that was in the works right now, doesn't seem to be a new server thing.
    A server migration is essentially required to get rid of the inventory blob. Specifically, we need to go character-by-character (not by hand, obviously) and iterate through the relevant tables in the database and unpack the blob, and then put the inventory data in a new blob-less table structure as we migrate each character. The only time we're ever going to do all that is when we're migrating servers, because you need to do a character-by-character copy anyway. So this was a now-or-never thing for us, and we went with "now"

  19. #199
    Quote Originally Posted by Mastablasta View Post
    But then it's always been the case that people are awarded for other people's work
    And some people will always claim that the glass is half full even that it is broken.

  20. #200
    Will this migration onto a new server help the gui react smoother and ultimatly we will have a more responsive player interface? I do get kind of tired of the sluggish feeling of moving items in my bank and inventory around...

Page 10 of 14 FirstFirst 1234567891011121314 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •